Tales of the Sand
by JesterFromHell
Summary: Let's follow Gaara and Kankuro into our world and watch all the adventurous, trivial, funny, disturbing and sad things they encounter throughout their journey back home together with a young private investigator. Gaara/OC - Rated M for later chapters.
1. Flicker

**Author:** JesterFromHell

Description: Gaara / Kankuro / OFC fic. Slightly AU, because the world this plays in, is pretty similar to our real world, but you'll see later on, that there are some differences to suport the storyline. In addition, I needed to change to Manga plotline for my benefits. Also note, no yaoi / sandcest whatsoever. It's complicated to say the least. But I can assure you, it's meant to be a Gaara/OFC fic, Kankuro's just there for entertainment.

**Status:** unbeta'd / chaptered / unfinished

**Rated:** M for later chapters

**Summary:** Let's follow Gaara and Kankuro into our world and all the adventurous, trivial, funny, disturbing and sad things they encounter throughout their journey back home, together with a young private investigator.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. But hey, it could be worse...

* * *

**Chapter One - Flicker**

**

* * *

**

"What I'm about to tell you, you wouldn't believe." I said seriously.

"I want to know everything."

"Really everything?" I smirked at the blonde sitting in front of me in the office.

"You heard me."

"Okay. But, don't complain afterwards." I shrugged, trying to remember everything that had happened and getting it in order.

"I never complain."

I just had to roll my eyes, because I had heard otherwise, but bit my comment back. "Alright. But it's going to be a long story."

"Just get it on. I have all the time I need." Ha, not a patient one. That I had heard too. And I've already known.

"Okay." I closed my eyes, an image forming in my mind. The day that had changed my entire life. The day I had to abandon every sense of reason I had.

* * *

I sat in my office at home going over several case files. As a private investigator I quickly learned, what was worth reading and was wasn't. I had specialized on a certain nature of cases. The ones, that earned me money and weren't too dangerous. I was coward to begin with. To make money for living with helping wifes, that were being cheated by rich and high-ranked husbands is a good business.

I never minded the fact that you had to dig deep and get your hands dirty in the process. In this fucked up world it was just natural. I never bothered with it. I inherited the skills and everything else to provide me with what it needs to form such a rolling business along with this old huge house or more villa. The musky smell that these kind of homes held was also ever present. And I liked it. It reminded me of old days, where my uncle used to sit in this very armchair at the desk, where I was located now.

He raised me like a daughter, playing little detective games with, maybe already assuming that one day I would follow his footsteps. Though our taste in cases differed. He always took on the dangerous ones, working with the police to save lives. I never had an affinity for this, as to where we get back to the point of me being a coward. I never had fired a gun and never intended too.

But, there had been one case, that changed my thinking or let's say slightly shifted it. My opinion stayed the same, but a gun, used with the right intention, could save your life. Especially in dangerous times like these. Therefore, I eventually bought one, and since then hid it in the lowest drawer of the desk. Though I touched it only once when I placed it there.

The case that had scarred me that much, to finally have this thing in my house, had begun with a child's abduction, and ended with a dead father and a mother locked away in prison for the next 15 years. The police had partially blamed me on the outcome. And they had been right. This regret I had to live with for the rest of my life. So, when a new file came fluttering in, I took my time to thoroughly think over it before I accepted. I never wanted to experience something like that again, it had been out of my league to handle it properly.

So, even with not thinking highly of the local authorities, whenever a large case crossed my desk, I passed it on the police. They were corrupted, yes, from the inside having traitors among their own ranks, but still also some upstanding officers worth of being trusted. As I said before, the world is fucked up. Terror. Crime. Everywhere you look. The world had changed since the old days. In the Middle East war raged. Oil and money, that's all there is to it. Moreover, our government was no difference. And the society was no difference as well. All that counted was social status, wealth and power.

To think about all of this, I guess I could consider myself lucky. I had nothing to do with all that crap, except for the cases that involved these likes of people. But with an already large amount of money on my bank account I could step away from it every time I wanted to. But I stuck up to my common cases, because these women who assigned me, or most of them, deserved some justice. Being cheated on, being treated like scum. Their husbands deserved to get what was coming to them. I always thought it was my part, yet small as it was, to do something about that.

Did I mention I also was interested in the paranormal activity? No, not like aliens. All these small things, you can't explain with simple reason like ghosts and haunted mansion. It always had intrigued me. I often spent time digging through the web, encountering curious stories. It was entertaining and helped me to get my mind somewhere else from time to time. And I always wanted to have such a case on my desk as well. But yet it had never happened.

But not today. I studied the file in front of me. But it was no use this late at night. My bad eyesight, a genetic disease unfortunately, caused me headaches when I read to long. I sighed and slumped back, rubbing my temples to ease the pain a bit. It was no use. Better to get some sleep and rest them properly I guessed and closed the file putting it on top of one of the three piles on my desk.

It was not a bulletproof system to maintain the bit of order I forced myself to exercise, but it worked for me. Although, the piles were messy themselves. As I put it on top of the 'maybe' stack my fingers brushed something that was too thick to belong there. I had to chuckle, seeing what was in between the files. It was the latest publication of 'Naruto', my beloved ninja novel. Must have put it there yesterday without noticing.

I got up from the chair in order to finally get to bed as the light bulbs from the old-fashioned chandelier above my desk flickered, then dimmed and for a split second, I felt my stomach tighten as I watched curiously. The bulbs flickered once more and then were back to normal function. I shrugged it off, not listening to the weird feeling in my guts. It really wasn't that uncommon with all those old cables in a house over 100 years old and not well maintained at all.

I only remembered it next day, when something happened, that shock my entire being.

It was sunny Sunday and my time to get away from the big and dark city I lived in for a few hours. Running through the woods always helped with relaxing and getting rid of some anger or frustration that occasionally came along with my job. It was a good method for me, feeling my lungs burn as I gained more speed. The feeling of pushing my body to its limit and further and after that feeling completely spent.

My breathing became shallower as I felt that I almost reached my top speed. My legs started aching. This was it. Just a little bit further.

Someone said to me, that this kind of behavior showed clearly my lack of sexual encounters. I had laughed at it. It was stupid. And there was no way, that running could ever compensate for it. However, the feeling of total exhaustion was much the same. Yeah, but I really didn't need the hassle of relationships with a man. It was wearing me out. The last one I had was over two years ago and had left me empty.

And all the energy and effort to fill the all the holes again had taken a lot of time. There was no way I could let that happens again. So, I never did. Sex wasn't even necessary anymore. But running was vital for me. I suddenly chuckled. Okay it was sort of a replacement. And it did fit well with me.

I haltered and bent down, securing my upper body with my hands on my thighs, panting heavily. Then I looked around. I didn't wanted to get too far, considering I still had to get back to my car.

I rose back up, taking in the warm sunrays that hit my face. A swarm of birds suddenly took off towards the blue sky, filling the air with fluttering noises, that almost startled me. I gated in the direction, squinting my eyes but it was useless. I couldn't even look that far with these ruined eyesight.

But the flicker of red in the treetops I could distinguish. I knew I paled. What the hell was that just now? You know, what they say about famous last words? Yes, I knew too, so I restrained myself from saying them. Instead I just turned around, determined to get back to the car, because I couldn't shake off the shiver of being watched.

When I heard graveling noises behind me, I quickly fell into running again. But my legs weren't yet back in condition to gain velocity so soon. But I couldn't find the courage to stop and face whoever was trailing me either. I grunted as realized it was pointless. My calves nearly cramped and I grunted at my sluggish pace. A voice from behind did the rest, I staggered and stopped.

As I turned to face whoever just ordered me to stop I could recognize the red, that earlier had flickered through the green leaves. But nothing more. It were two people alright, but they stood just slightly out of her range to decipher their faced clearly. But, despite that they seemed awfully familiar.

"What do you want?" I mentally cheered for myself for sounding so gutsy, I felt rattled to no end.

"A talk." The guy in the dark clothes replied in the same voice style.

I waved at him dismissively, but my voice remained sharp and wary. "That's what they all say." To my horror, he actually started coming towards me and the blur became an actual man. Boy, I corrected myself. The other one followed him suit.

"I don't feel like talking." I said cautiously, changing my stance to make it easier for me too run head over heel.

"Just a few words." The taller one tried to persuade me with his hands held up in an apologetic manner. The guy, who was nothing but a red blur was still silent. And then he wasn't blurry anymore at all when they continued to close the gap between us.

I had to conceal my surprise and the gasp that nearly escaped me at the view. "It can't be…." I muttered, hoping they didn't hear me.

He must have noticed my attempt to get away, for something tucked at my leg. Seeing the delicate, yet subtle, movement of the fingers of his right hand my mind surprisingly didn't fail me. I knew that. I've seen it before. But, it wasn't possible. And that thing on the others guys back triggered the next reaction I was about to do.

I twirled around and ran. And the surprise, that I managed to snap the chakra strings didn't even get the time to sink in. All I could think about was that this was a dream, but running seemed a very good option, nonetheless.

I thoroughly prayed, they wouldn't follow me. But dreams intended to act on their own. And I was right, when I realized my feet sinking into the ground or rather sand. My mind screamed, this wasn't real. But it sure felt like it, when my face painfully connected with the ground.

I didn't know, why I ran. But this was maybe what I had anticipated to happen. He wouldn't kill me right? Right? He was one of good now. And there was no way his brother would let it happen either. Moreover, the redhead had been completely sedate earlier, when he had the chance to take my life in the blink of an eye.

My trail of thought was interrupted, because I heard the soft thuds of two pairs of feet landing next to me. I attentively examined their footwear, which surely wasn't common for people in this world, when I raised my head. Good gracious.

I spit out some the sand that had found its way into my mouth, for I was gaping in shock, when I fell down. Sand. I ground my teeth gathering enough saliva to spit out the rest that had settled down between my teeth. I knew, whom I had to thank for this, but decided against it. Who knows, how he would he would react. Probably with shoving more sand into my mouth and down my throat.

"So, ready to talk yet?" The puppeteer asked a smile on his painted lips and extended his hand to help me up.

I slapped it away. "No…" I was sulking. How the hell could it be that he found my state so amusing? Did he really approve of Gaara's method to stop me? It seemed like it, though he quirked an eyebrow at him, which meant something like 'You overdid it'. Gaara stood there in his usual posture, arms crossed over his chest and all. His teal emotionless eyes clearly read 'I don't care'.

I was slowly getting past the first shock of encountering two sand shinobi in the woods not far away from my hometown and lifted myself up to sit on my bum, dusting my clothes of. Kankuro clicked his tongue and pointed at me, then shot Gaara a reproachful look.

I lifted my hand to my face, which hurt like shit by the way, and knew what he meant. My nose bled. It was just some tiny droplets, but still, it was damn fucking blood. I wiped it away with my sleeve and sulked even more.

Then a realization hit me. I shouldn't even be aware of the fact that it was Gaara's sand that had stopped me. They shouldn't even exist here. They shouldn't even consist of more than ink and paper rather than flesh and blood. I knew, I looked shocked again and quickly tried to conceal my expression. Did they even know?

How would they react, if I told them? Sure, it would be devastating to know that they were just characters in a manga, only meant to entertain people. I couldn't bring myself to tell them right away. I felt…sorry for them. So I hid my knowledge for now, until I thought it appropriate to let them know.

Gaara's carmine colored coat flapped in the soft breeze and the surreal feeling passed, when the sound brought me back to here and now. This was as real as it could get I thought, watching the hem of Gaara's clothes wafting in front of my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked curiously. He must have noticed my inner struggle through my facial expression.

I perked up. "My face hurts." I said matter-of-factly, saving me with a lie and I succeeded, because it was only a half a lie. It was hurting.

"Yeah, sorry about that. We didn't mean to…" He started and I knew, what he was going to say, so I interrupted him.

"It's okay. Yeah, you chased after me, and so I tripped. I'm pretty clumsy, so it's not your fault, entirely at least. You just scared me a bit, when you showed up so suddenly. It's not like you made me trip, right? That'd be ridiculous." I laughed effusively, saving him from the explanation about his sand-wielding brother. And also to point out, that I didn't think it was possible for them to make me fall from a distance.

They quickly exchanged a puzzled look and simply left it at that. I decided to play dumb as well.

But there was something that I wanted to know. "So, what's that about that 'talk' you were so eager about?" I finally got up, yet again ignoring Kankuro's politely offered hand. So he dropped it again with a disappointed look. Yeah, I was still a bit peeved.

"It's complicated. But to make it short, we want to know where exactly we are located." Kankuro said, somewhat uncertain about to how to say that they got plain lost without downright admitting it. I knew they were. Because they weren't anywhere near to the place they called home.

"How did you get here?" I asked, sensing their discomfort about that question.

Kankuro sighed and looked at Gaara, who didn't show any sign of aiding him. "That's the problem, I think. And I know, you're not gonna believe us and probably run away again. And I wouldn't blame you, if you did, because it's just absurd and…." I was afraid he would go on and on like that, without saying anything usable.

And his little brother must have thought the same, for he lifted his gaze upwards and my eyes followed his until I blinked into the bright sun high up in the sky. I should be more shocked, but since I was aware of the fact that they arrived here in some weird way, my surprise was limited when he finally replied on his babbling brothers behalf.

"We fell down." His deep voice amazed me. It was almost too deep for a man, boy, of his age. His voice quivered with quiet composure and I have to say it surprised me more than his statement. Yes, that's how amazing it was.

"Out of the sky?" I asked incredulously, still looking up and craving to hear his voice again. "Hn." And sadly he disappointed me, with sticking to his trademark answer. Pity.

"See, I knew she wouldn't believe it." Kankuro muttered next to me and I flashed him a compassionate smile. "I never said anything like that."

"Do you know a place called Sunagakure?" He then suddenly asked and I merely winced. "Nope."

Kankuro's eyes widened and Gaara's narrowed. I held my hands up defensively. "I never heard of a place like that. But it's a huge world, so who knows?"

"You've never heard of any hidden villages? What about the Fire Country or the Wind Country? Does it ring a bell?" Kankuro pressed further.

I knew my face contorted slightly, because he was getting upset and gesturing around frantically, maybe already sensing that something was pretty off.

"I swear I don't know." I said soothingly and stepped away from him.

"Kankuro." Gaara rasped his brother's name admonishingly to remind him to keep his temper down.

And he listened to him, stopping right away and decided to silently clench his fists. I could see the disbelief and confusion on his face. Did he figure it out already? Well, I did, but I had an unfair disadvantage. As incredible as it seemed, but somehow they had managed to travel into my world. Period.

This really was something. And I knew I shouldn't get excited, but I was. The Kazekage and his brother were standing right in front of me in flesh and blood. Though, they pretty looked the same like their inked images, some difference could be identified by looking closely.

I didn't realize I was gawking, until Gaara's annoyed eyes told me so.

"So what now?" Kankuro asked him and he released me from his mental grip.

I quickly regained my composure and started to mull over things, ignoring the Suna nins as they both began to speak quietly which each other.

I could just not leave them here. What would happen to them? They were complete strangers in this world. Maybe they were good in defending themselves, but figuring out how life was in this world was not something they should find out without assistance.

My resolve had been there, the moment I had recognized who they were. I wouldn't let them end up here all by themselves. Up to this point, I had followed their story in the manga. I liked the characters and their story. And with Gaara and Kankuro it was no difference. I would help them no matter what.

"Uh, excuse me?" Both turned their heads towards me not happy about the interruption of their talk, but no one said a word. A few seconds of silence passed until I finally noticed that they were waiting for me to speak as I was waiting for permission to do so.

I scratched my neck with an impish grin. "I was wondering about your situation and just wanted to say, I'm offering my help."

There were surprised by my blunt offer, I could tell. Kankuro swallowed, Gaara just stared at me.

"Let me make this clear for you. We fell out of the sky…." Kankuro began, I nodded. "…we think we are in a different world…." He quirked an eyebrow at me, I cocked my head curiously, indicating that I kept up with him. "…and yet you are willing to help us…" I nodded again, he smiled. "You're nuts."

That wasn't what I expected. But I casually brushed it off. I've been called worse. "You're one to talk. I mean look at you." I motioned towards his face. "No one in his right mind would walk around like that. And your clothes? The strangest ones I've ever seen. And his eyes! There are no pupils in them. That's something that's completely impossible. You hear, it's physically impossible." I talked myself into such rage, that I gasped for air.

"Why?"

I rolled my eyes at the randomness of Gaara's question. "What do you mean?"

"Why do want to help us?"

I shuffled my feet. "Because you seem to need it."

"Aren't you afraid?" He asked in his monotone voice.

"Of what?" I raised my brows at him to underline my words.

"That we might harm you?" He appeared to be surprised, that this thought had never seemed to cross my mind.

I shook my head at him. "If you truly wanted to, you surely wouldn't have bothered with talking to me first."

His face had no emotion, yet he seemed to relent. I wasn't a shinobi and I knew they had guessed that much. I posed no threat to them and maybe that was one of the reasons they eventually followed me.

"So, why are you so convinced, that you are in a different world anyway?" I asked, as we were on the way back to my car.

"I thought you'd believe us, why are you asking?" Kankuro countered sounding rather warily.

„Calm down. Just curious, is all." Geez, never would've assumed he would get so easily offended.

He relaxed perceptibly and groaned. "It's hard to describe. But it seems to have some kind of effect on us. Amongst other things, it feels like there's some extra pressure on our bodies. It feels weird to be moving around. And it takes more effort than usual. That's the biggest difference. Also I don't recognize a single plant around here. And the trees look different from what we know. And, the way we came here of course." He ended with a sheepish grin.

"So what exactly happened to you?" I was wondering if he would finally and truly mention Suna and the shinobi world, because he was awfully secretive about it up to this point. And when he exchanged a look with Gaara, who was on his right side, making him walk in the middle and me on his other side, I realized he was asking the Kazekage if it was okay to speak about it.

Permission granted, I guessed, because he took a deep breath and continued. "We were engaged in a battle with enemy shinobi from another country when it happened. Some bright light appeared right in the middle of the fighting. Gaara and I were the closest to it. I remember the air becoming stagnant. Flickers of light form all around us. And waves of light appeared in mid air. It was so bright it hurt my eyes. Also it frightened me. I had never seen anything like that. And when I watched it, I realized I was being sucked in. It knocked all the air out of me I thought I would suffocate. And I had a strange feeling. I can't describe it properly, but it felt like my whole existence was questioned, like I was to shrink until I completely vanished. And then everything went dark. I don't know how long it was until I woke up, but it was yet in this absolute darkness. I called everyone's name and to my surprise Gaara answered me. Then suddenly something like a rift appeared ahead of us. And when we reached for it, we could see a clear blue sky. And then we fell down. Luckily Gaara saved us from getting crushed."

I blinked at him, but he avoided to look at me, his head lowered. I wanted to say something, but words failed me.

"Well, that pretty much sums it up. So, how does it sound to you?" His voice was quiet. Uncertain.

"That's amazing."

He lifted his head, looking surprised. "Huh?"

"I mean, it sure isn't good for you and I know that much, because ending up in another world sucks, but that's something considered next to impossible. And here you are. It's like time traveling, but much better." I explained not fully aware of the excitement in my voice.

"Well, at least someone is happy." Kankuro snarled at me. "Though, of course it doesn't concern you." And quickly slipped into being frustrated.

I could've slapped myself across the face for being so rude. "Hey, I'm sorry. Don't let it get you down. I said I'd help you. We'll find out what happened. You came here, so I'm sure there's got to be a way back, you know. We just need to find it. Who knows, maybe tomorrow that weird light pops back up again and you can just right back home. Until that, you just stick around with me." I offered, hoping that it would comfort him at least a bit.

"And you are sure about that? We really don't want to bother you." Kankuro replied.

I playfully slapped his shoulder, which earned me another a glare from his brother, who I almost forgot was present as well when I listened to Kankuro's story. But who could blame me, since he was so terribly not talkative.

"You know, you could always hire me, if you're afraid of me backing out." I couldn't hide my amusement, when he seemed disturbed. "Pay you?"

"Yeah, I'll investigate your case, because I'm an ace detective." I winked at him with the boast of my profession. Not that he caught my drift.

"But you just offered your help for free! There's no way we could pay you! We don't have money with us. And I doubt, even if we did, it would be the kind you use in this world!"

Okay, at this point, I should have reminded myself, that joking around with Kankuro wasn't appropriate, at least not yet when he and his brother were in this delicate situation. I just wanted to lighten up the mood and failed utterly. I took the blame on me.

As I spotted my car, I was relieved and welcomed the distraction it offered for both shinobi eyed it with sudden interest. Oh, right, they never had seen a car before, haven't they?


	2. Deal

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naturally. If I would, it would be named Gaara...

* * *

**Chapter Two – Deal**

**

* * *

**

"I don't think, I want to be in there." Kankuro motioned at my car. "I refuse."

I clenched my jaw. "It's perfectly fine. Everyone uses cars to get somewhere. It's the most popular thing in this world next to alcohol and money." And maybe I should let the fact slide for now, that my eyes weren't that good. Didn't want him to become more ruffled than it was good for him.

These guys should consider themselves lucky, because they ran into me and not another random being. Their silent glaring and easily triggered short temper wouldn't get them anywhere soon. And with looking like some freaky cosplayers, the chances were even slimmer to non-existent.

Speaking of non-existent, I had the opportunity to get a clear view on Gaara's face and the eye brows were in fact missing. The skin was completely smooth. It seemed like he had no facial hair whatsoever. No small hairs - that were maybe to light to be discovered - none.

"I don't think it will fit in?" Kankuro's next attempt of talking himself out of it confused me at first until I saw, what he was pointing at. The gourd on Gaara's back.

Ah, bless him for being clueless. "No problem." I flashed him a sovereign grin as I walked over to the trunk and opened it. He peeked inside when he sided up with me.

Then I realized Gaara was also next to me. He also seemed not comfortable with the idea of riding a car and leaving his gourd in a trunk, out of reach for an indefinite amount of time.

"It's alright. Really." I sighed highly frustrated. I really didn't want to think of camping out in the middle of nowhere just because them.

Kankuro shot me warning look. "I better get these back in one piece." And then he casually dropped his scrolls into the trunk.

Gaara loosened the straps on his gourd and I heard a soft thud as it landed on the ground. I was positive it was extremely heavy, so I reached my hands out in order to help him getting it inside. I just acted on pure instinct and regretted a second later.

He gave me the most evil eye I ever received in my entire life - for real - so I quickly pulled back. Man, he was sensitive about that thing. I watched him lifting it inside the trunk and carefully placing it down and suddenly I couldn't resist the urge to ask.

"So, what's in it anyway?" I managed to sound as casual as possible.

"Sand." His curt reply. Figured.

Nonetheless, I was truly amazed that I was able to get an answer out of him anyway, despite that it was just one word.

A mischievous smile formed on my lips, wondering if I could strike up an actual conversation. "Weird. Care to clarify?"

"No." It was nothing more but a single grunt. Still amused, I reminded myself not to get so pushy. It surely wouldn't work with Gaara.

Then we got in and the issue of who was sitting where resolved itself. Kankuro claimed the passenger seat as his, because Gaara had silently volunteered to sit in the back. Inwardly I laughed at myself slightly embarrassed; Gaara really didn't want to be anywhere near me. My shoulders involuntarily slid down realizing the true meaning. Damn.

"So, how does this thing work?" The answer to Kankuro's question came right away as I started the engine and hit the road. He was stunned and I chuckled.

"Amazing!" He exclaimed happily and turned his head to see how Gaara was doing. I checked the rear mirror to see for myself and was surprised that the redhead had chosen to sit in the middle of the back seat, with the result that my eyes met his in the rear mirror.

I tensed when he didn't even blink. I quickly resumed paying more attention to the road ahead, because I didn't want to be held responsible for killing the Kazekage in a car crash, because I was too occupied with goggling at him.

Soon we reached the city I lived in and Kankuro gaped at the view. "Sure is different from home." He muttered, his wide eyes taking in everything there was.

My gaze flickered over to him, when we progressed through the big city. "It's just steel and concrete. Nothing more." I sounded somewhat displeased, because aside from the fact that I grew up here with my uncle, I really held no affection for this city.

"You don't like living here?" The puppeteer inquired, catching my drift.

"I could take it or leave it. But my business is established here. And there are certain memories linked to this place. So, I guess that makes it my home after all." I said absent-mindly, my eyes focused on the street ahead. I had just rambled on without noticing and felt uncomfortable, about how much it actually did give away.

Silence ensued once more, and I was glad when we finally reached my street and I parked the car on the driveway next to the very stuffed trashcans. I winced, the smell was almost unbearable, as I got off the car. Kankuro's eyes were wide and he covered his nose and mouth with both hands.

I grinned sheepishly and didn't fail to see, that the awful smell even triggered a reaction from the redhead. His narrowed eyes were nothing short of a silent glowing rebuke.

"The garbage disposal has become very sloppy." I shrugged and was on the first step towards my door, when I heard Gaara grunt.

"My gourd."

I rolled my eyes. It was no question, there was no 'please' attached to it, it was a plain command. Yet once more, he kept it very short. He really did not intend to waste his time with too many words. I turned around with darkened eyes.

"Of course, milord." I replied tauntingly as I sauntered back and opened the trunk rather violently. He ignored my behavior all the way, grabbing his equipment and putting it back on.

Kankuro retrieved his scrolls as well, fully aware of my tension. "Thanks."

I blinked at him. He offered a smile. "You're welcome." I said, wishing his younger brother had the same manners.

We entered the house and I got greeted with the musky scent I liked so much. The old house was my refuge, my sanctuary. No one ever disturbed my being in these walls, which would be able to tell hundreds of stories of the people that had lived in here. I was no exception. This was where I lived since I was six years old.

I knew every corner, every crack in the ceiling and walls, every creak of the wooden floor.

And of course, I knew every single object, which had never been moved. It was vital for me to have the locations memorized because of my eyesight, which even got worse with the fading light.

"Home sweet home." I announced, putting the keys on the cabinet in the entrance hall. Kankuro dropped his scrolls next to the furniture and let his gaze wander around the place.

I really wasn't sure, what to do next. Normally I would just settle in the living room and watch some TV since it was my self-proclaimed day off. But with these two in tow….

My stomach interrupted my trail of thoughts. "Uh…." My eye twitched. Food! I needed food right now. I had forgotten how hungry I was after walking through the woods longer than I had planned because of the Sand shinobis.

"Hey, why don't you just sit down and I see if I have anything edible. You must be hungry too, right?"

Kankuro appreciated my suggestion. "Yeah, I could use a bite." Gaara deadpanned. How various.

I retreated through the opposite door from the one we came in into the kitchen. I quickly rummaged through the cupboards and raided the fridge. Surprisingly, well not really, I found just enough stuff to assemble some sandwiches. Well, it was better than nothing. I really had no idea, what preferences they had when it came to food, so I just made a bunch of different toppings.

I could be various, unlike others in this house.

I entered the living room, juggling a huge platter in one hand and plates in the other to see that nothing had changed about them since I left. They still stood in there, but closer to the window, facing the ledge.

"What's wrong?" I asked with furrowed brows.

"It moved." Kankuro concluded with a puzzled voice. Gaara seemed interested in, well whatever they were looking at, as well.

I awkwardly placed everything down on the low table in the middle of the room, happy that I managed the task without dropping anything. I flexed my arms and sighed.

"What moved…" I was unnerved, but immediately knew what they were so curious about.

"Carnivorous Plant." I remarked dryly and jostled myself between the two guys. I had it for a long time and thanks to my care, it prospered splendidly.

"Carnivorous." Gaara repeated slightly intrigued.

Was he serious? That attracted his attention? Cruddy green stuff? I nearly collapsed. Okay, so it wasn't just some common plant, even for this world. I might as well could give him a performance why it was named that way and also because he seemed interested, which seemed rare for him in the first place.

"This one's a Venus flytrap, but there are several other types named after their appearances, different methods of trapping their prey and then eating it." I explained, while I was searching for said prey across the room.

"It…eats?" Kankuro sounded amused, apparently not believing a single world. "What does it eat? Most likely not humans, eh?"

"You kidding me? Of course not! But anyway, don't touch it!"

You know how it is when you would tell little children to not eat sand or pick their noses, right? And how they would proceed to do it anyway, mainly because you told them not to do so and it just multiplied their curiosity and urge?

So, when I heard Kankuro yelp out in surprise, rather than pain I guess, because I knew it just really didn't hurt that badly, I didn't even had to turn around to know what just happened. I ignored him and resumed my search for something to feed to my Venus flytrap.

There, itsy bitsy spider! Gotcha! I knew, they kept invading this house, you just had to look closely to spot one. I took the tiny black fella in my palm, almost feeling sympathetic for him as I returned to stand in between the siblings.

Kankuro had his index finger in his mouth, still surprised that he just endured his first bite by plant.

"It bit me." He mumbled, pouting.

Thanks, Captain Obvious. "I told you not to touch it, didn't I? Besides, I would be surprised if it even hurt." I snapped at him and he pulled his finger out of his mouth, accompanied by the distinctive suckling noises. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Gaara examining my open palm.

"Well, since you already got your show, I think I might just let him go. What do you think?" I shoved my hand, complete with little spider, into his face. The redhead did not flinch once. I should give him credit for that, but admittedly, it was just a really cute little spider, clearly not enough to scare the wits out of a phlegmatic Kazekage.

"I think it's enough." His dark sounding voice commanded.

I must confess that I didn't really know what he meant. That Kankuro had his finger shoved into the plant's opening in the first place or only the point that I was about to kill an innocent spider or the entire situation?

He must have realized my confusion at his randomness, for he sighed. "I think I understand the nature of this plant quite well. Therefore, no further demonstration is acquired."

Oh, was he getting annoyed? Because of me? Hopefully, because of Kankuro. I gulped. "Alright. I got it." He studied me over my still raised hand, so I quickly lowered it to chest level. The spider was still present on my palm, so I proceeded to release him. "There you go little one. But, you should thank this gentleman for your life."

I knelt down to let the little creature off my hand and he swiftly scurried between Gaara's feet and away. I waved after him and wiped an imaginary tear away, then stood back up.

"Why do you actually let these insects roam free in your house?" Kankuro complained wailing, motioning into the direction the spider just had ran off to.

I rubbed my forehead. "First off, it's an arachnid, not an insect. There's a difference. Second, they're everywhere anyway. So who am I to throw him out of the window and separate him from his friends. I'm not that heartless." I explained to him in a childlike voice.

"But, you were about to kill him." Gaara stated bluntly, thus shamelessly ruining my effort.

You know what? I liked him better, when he was killer who didn't stuck his tiny nose into others business and simply minded his own.

Kankuro gazed at his brother with a proud expression. "Yeah. What he said." He pointed his thump at the redhead, awaiting my reaction.

I gaped at Gaara's quick-wittedness. "Touché." I solemnly admitted my defeat.

Okay, I've reconsidered. I liked Gaara the way he was now. It would be interesting to learn more about him. The input from the manga, let's be honest, wasn't enough. He was too much of a fascinating character to let this chance pass.

"Alright. Chow time." The awkwardness of this whole almost-killing-then-saving-a-spider-issue was getting on my nerve when I remembered what I was originally about to do, before these two sand clowns had interrupted me.

The puppeteer clapped his hands, having no objections and plunked down next to me on the couch. Until now I had been oblivious to the fact, that the Kazekage had his gourd still attached to his back. He must have noticed the inconvenience of sitting down with it as well, so he got rid of it and settled it next to him at the last remaining option to sit.

The wing chair was big, let me tell you. And as he sat down, I couldn't help but grin. He looked like a child in this oversized furniture. Though that was exactly what made it so comfortable to sit in the first place.

Meanwhile, Kankuro scrutinized the sandwiches suspiciously. I cleared my throat, because again I had stared at the redhead with too much abandon. I seriously had to watch myself. Because I knew that he knew as well. This was embarrassing.

"I'm not sure, you what you like, so I tried to make a bit everything I had. And you don't have to be polite and eat it, if it taste bad for you, just spit it out and try the next one, alright? You with me so far?" I spoke somewhat fast, not really realizing it for it was my normal pace anyway. I randomly grabbed a Pastrami sandwich and began to chew, secretly watching my company.

They had listened slightly puzzled. Not the first time today, so I let it slid. But, since Kankuro seemed weirded out, I put my food down. "Okay. What is it?"

"I just wondered what that all is."

"Is it that different from what you usually eat?" Man, either he was picky or plain dense. Didn't I just tell, what they should do with the food?

"Actually yeah." Just go ahead and eat for god's sake. Gaara once more was awfully quiet.

"It tastes quite alright. Don't worry. It' just white bread and cheese with ketchup, roast beef, pork, cucumber." With each mentioned topping, my finger pointed at the matching sandwich. Yeah, cucumber. It tastes good and my uncle had often made those, and I had taken a liking to it.

Kankuro nodded and finally settled on the one with roast beef. Thank God. He poked it, after he had put it on his plate. "It won't attack you." I giggled from the side. He grunted and then started tentatively nibbling on it. From his expression I could tell, it wasn't too bad.

I sighed in relief, peeking over to the redhead. He had taken the cucumber sandwich and raised it to his mouth. For a second it just had remained in front of it. Then I suddenly knew what he was doing. I hardly managed to swallow my laughter.

He must have noticed, because his eyes met mine and he demonstratively took a bite. I knew it was weird, but I found it rather endearing, that he had just sniffed it before he went to eat it.

* * *

I stared at the image in the mirror of my bathroom. I could see the dried blood still on my nose. Did I walk around like that the whole evening and no one even bothered to tell me? Puh. I undressed myself and turned the shower on. I definitely needed it and sighed in relief as the hot water hit my tensed muscles. Also it would give Gaara and Kankuro some time for themselves.

It seemed like they were not up to it to discuss their situation in front of me. Therefore, I decided purposefully to take my time. Also it offered me some time to think about what to do next. Really, I had still no idea how it was even possible for them to get here. Moreover, I was beyond clueless how they would get back home. Flickering light in the middle of the dessert? Flicker?

I suddenly remembered. Yesterday at night, my chandelier had flickered. No, I shoved the thought away. Coincidence. It happened sometimes. The electricity wasn't as reliable as it should be. And even if it had something to do with it, it wasn't important. But how the hell was I supposed to find a way for them to get back to Suna? My head started spinning. Maybe I should just start first with the phenomenon they had mentioned.

I mean, there's a lot of weird things in this world that people believed in. Paranormal activities existed in people's minds for a long time now. I could dig out some cases from the net. Maybe I could find a clue to what these two had encountered.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Damn! I've been staring at the tiled wall all the time while thinking, and now I got shampoo in my eyes. I quickly held my head under the water stream from above until the burning subsided. I furiously rubbed my eyes. There would be so red when I was out here.

I continued to rinse myself and then just stood there under the hot water.

How long would there be here? Days? Weeks? Months? That could get difficult. They had a lot to learn, when they wanted to stay here. I mean, they were clueless with sandwiches to begin with. And they had no clothes. Nothing. Aside the dumb gourd and the scrolls. Well, I had some clothes that might would fit, but clearly not enough.

I perked up. Tomorrow would be a busy day with a lot of shopping. My fridge was also empty. Ugh...

And I wondered how they felt about all of this. It must be terrible to be ripped out of your familiar places and thrown into an entirely different world. Well, not that different, but different enough to be thrown out of the loop. And of course I knew, that there was a war going on in the ninja world. I'm sure the Suna shinobis were worried about their home. And their sister.

My determination enhanced. I would help them with everything I could do. There's got to be a way. I couldn't even imagine what might happen in the Naruto universe without them. There were vital characters in the story. It surely would turn the world upside down, if they would be missing for too long.

I shut the shower off and dried myself. Then I studied my serious face in the mirror again, before I closed my eyes, in- and exhaling a few times. It helped to stay calm. Don't worry, just play it by ear. There's nothing else I could do. Besides, with enough money, you could definitely get somewhere in this world. It was the only language that still worked in the world. We're not totally screwed.

I opened my eyes and gave my image in the mirror the thumps up. My dimples appeared, I was smiling. I was a private investigator after all. So, it was time to get on with the job.

I dressed myself in fresh clothes, quickly dried my hair up and went to see what the boys were doing.

I found them both still in the living room, discussing. From the looks on their faces, I could venture it wasn't a pleasant topic. They both looked serious, Kankuro a bit pained.

"So, have been drawing sticks as for who's next with the shower or did you fight it out like men?" My attempt to lighten up the mood did not fail completely, for a smile tucked on the puppeteers lips. "In any case, I'm sure it would be me." He announced cheekily.

Gaara quirked his brow at him. "Oh?" Was that really amusement in his eyes about his brother? My grin widened.

"Up the stairs, first door on the left." I instructed. "Towels are in the huge drawer in the hallway and I'll get you some other clothes."

"We've decided." Gaara suddenly interrupted, yet again to me it seemed completely random.

"Come again?" I really disliked his affinity for short comments. Kankuro slumped back on the couch.

"We've considered your offer and would like to hire your services."

If he wouldn't have been so damn serious about it, it would have cracked me up. "My offer was to help you." I corrected him quietly.

"That, we cannot simply accept. I'm grateful for your generosity to have us here, but it surely will be inconvenient for you." At the end of the sentence, he seemed like almost asking. I cocked my head, and then shook it no.

"It's not. The house is big enough for all three of us. And your case is special, so I volunteer. I won't charge."

"Come on, Gaara, give it a rest." Kankuro chipped in soothingly. I was confused, then I understood what was going on.

"If this is about money, don't worry. I'm well situated. It's no problem at all. And, you said you don' t have anything to pay me anyway, right?"

"That's what we wanted to discuss with you. What else would you accept rather than money?" The Kazekage asked, I shrugged.

Since, apparently he wouldn't let it go, I relented. I knew, he was uncomfortable with the fact that he felt like bothering me with their presence and not having anything to return the favor. "An exchange." I stated matter-of-factly.

Kankuro looked surprised, Gaara's expression remained the same. "Like what?" He inquired a bit suspiciously.

I waved at him dismissively. I wouldn't take advantage of him. "Tell me about your world." Kankuro relaxed visibly. I mentally laughed. Did he expect I would want his scrolls or Gaara's gourd or something else inappropriate?

"Very well." The Kazekage replied. "But why?" He added, confusion evident in his voice.

"I'm just interested. And, well…" I shuffled with my feet, looking down. "Since it's unknown how much time we need to spent together, I thought it would be better, you know, to know a bit about each other."

The reaction, the redhead displayed, wasn't anticipated. His eyes widened in surprise. And there was something else in his eyes, I couldn't really decipher. "Like developing a more familiar base and building friendly relations?"

I smiled sheepishly. When he said it, it sounded just weird. But, on another note, he clearly understood my intentions. To good, for that matter I concluded. "Yeah, something like that. I just want to make sure we'll get along."

"You haven't even given us your name yet. Isn't that the first step to…get along?" Gaara remarked calmly.

I was dumbfounded. "I haven't..?" Really, I swore I did. "Ashe Scantlin." I introduced myself and walked over to him. He watched me . "But just call me Ashe." I extended my hand. His teal eyes traveled from my face down to it.

"You're supposed to shake it." I hinted muttering under my breath. Kankuro enjoyed Gaara's perplex ion, for a grin grazed his lips.

The redhead stood up. I slightly tensed, when he finally took my hand and after a firm shook that only lasted merely two seconds his touch was gone.

"Deal." I said, recovering from the excitement that had just flooded my body.

Kankuro cleared his throat suddenly from behind me. When had he walked up to me? With dazed eyes, I turned around to repeat the action I just had done with his brother. "In case you don't know yet, I'm Kankuro." He flashed me a wicked grin. Idiot, I wasn't that dense. And my ears worked just fine.

"I already know, since I heard you already mentioning your names."

"Alright. Since all this is settled, I'd like to return to the subject of me getting a shower." Kankuro remarked cheekily.

"Yeah, sure. You know what? Let's call it a night then and save the rest for tomorrow. While you both go and take a shower, I'll get your rooms ready and find you some fresh clothes."

Both appreciated my suggestion and Kankuro followed me up the stairs, where we found out, that showers here weren't really that different from the ones they knew, which spared me the trouble of much further explanation. I was glad, because I was getting pretty weary.

I quickly prepared the guestrooms, which originally were to be children's rooms only big enough to house a bed and wardrobe each. Then I went to rummage through my own wardrobe to find something that would fit both guys and after a few minutes found some stuff that was fairly neutral.

I knocked on the bathroom just in time to hear how the shower was turned off. "I'll leave the clothes right outside, okay?" I placed two slacks and a plain black and white shirt next to the door. I had just guessed the seize and was amazed I found something that should actually fit.

"Thanks." Came the muffled reply. I turned to leave for my well-earned sleep and bumped into Gaara. How the hell did he sneak up on me like that? Well, okay maybe it was the circumstance that he was a ninja and I was not and that the hallway was poorly lit. I sidestepped with a muttered excuse only to hit my head on one of the small lamps on the wall. Aargh, when the hell did it get so dark here?

I cursed under my breath, already oblivious to Gaara's presence due to the insetting pain. I clutched the right side of my face. Damn me and my bad eyes. It was that very moment Kankuro chose to emerge from the bathroom. Thank you. Or maybe not. The paint on his face was gone and a towel hung lazily around his waist.

"What's going on?" He blinked at me, then at his brother who hadn't said a single word.

I peeked at him from my uncovered eye and averted my gaze a second later. Yeah, I had seen him half-naked in the manga and with his face not covered half purple. But, this was a rare sight, for he was real. I could see every defined muscle and it made my cheeks burn. When the hell had he decided to turn to be that handsome?

"Goodnight." I swiftly declared my exit, I needed to get away.

When I closed the door of my bedroom behind me, I could catch Kankuro's muffled voice.

"Did I just do something wrong?" There was silence for a few seconds, and then I wished I had just stopped listening.

"I think she is not used to male company." Gaara's observation skills were truly frightening.

I would never leave this room again. I would simply starve and die here. End of story.


	3. Research

Disclaimer: I so don't own Naruto. Don't keep reminding me...

* * *

**Chapter Three - Research  
**

**

* * *

**

Right.

Naruto was dead.

And they saw him die.

They heard his last words, that he never really deserved to be Hokage. And that he had considered Sasuke as his friend until the end. He got killed by the so-called friend in the end, who died as well in the process. They left a world devastated. No, I have to reconsider. Two worlds. Their world was as real as ours. I had to face it, when looking at their faces, while Kankuro told me the full and very complex story.

Yeah, right. Kishimoto-san had messed up. I hadn't liked where it all had been going. It was a disaster.

The other thing was, the latest chapter I have read some time ago in this very room, was lagging behind their latest events. I didn't know what happened after the Kages' summit and the war, that climaxed in Naruto's death, due to lacking releases.

But I really didn't want to now. I felt sick. It was surreal knowing it wasn't just some ink blots on random pages anymore. They had experienced everything in full conscience, had suffered, died and kept loosing friends and comrades in war and I couldn't bear it anymore.

I shot up from the spot where we were seated again, the couch in the living room. I had been listening to their story for hours. They had started, I guessed on purpose, at Sasuke's Retrieval only hinting on earlier events. Not that it mattered, of course I knew.

I retreated into my office, collapsing into my chair behind the desk, leaving the bewildered shinobis behind. It was such an awful feeling, I couldn't look at them much longer. It was so sad. I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing.

In. Out. In. Out.

I wasn't really crying, because I felt foolish, if I would do so. But the lump in my throat hurt, so I let myself gulp audibly to get rid of the pressure.

When I heard the creaks of the wooden floor, I quickly turned my chair around, facing away from the door. I felt weak, because it had really affected me so suddenly.

"Are you alright?" It was Kankuro.

I swallowed hard, refusing to look at him. "Sort of." I replied abashed. "It's just, I needed a break." I explained my behavior truthfully.

I heard him coming closer, knowing he stood right in front of the desk. I sighed. "It's just...it's such a…sad story."

"I know." He sounded sympathetic.

"I understand the urgency of you going back. I will begin with my work shortly. Just give a minute, okay." Surprisingly, talking helped me to calm down a bit. I rubbed my face and turned around with my chair, to see it wasn't only the puppeteer, but Gaara stood there as well. His calm eyes looked at me with growing interest.

"Sorry." My voice sounded squeaky.

"Why do take it so personal?" Guess who bluntly asked.

I gladly would've answered something along the line 'Because I experienced everything with you for the last 5 years'. But, that wouldn't have been very wise.

"It's called sympathy." I responded a little hurt. It was amazing how easily the mood suddenly altered. I proudly held Gaara's scrutinizing gaze. "Besides, it's my job." I retorted, blindly rummaging around the files on my desk. I suddenly froze.

"Get out." My fingers had touched the manga, but luckily, its cover was yet hidden by some folders. Kankuro frowned at me, but I shot him a glare.

"You heard her." He sighed at his brother, stepping past him, then waited for the young Kazekage to eventually follow him out of my office. Gaara listened to him, but not before he could regard me a last wary look over his shoulder. He clearly didn't need words at all. He already could tell I was hiding something.

Even without his gourd and usual robes, he clearly hadn't lost his intimidating charisma. He had chosen the white shirt from the clothes I had given them earlier, leaving Kankuro the black one. However, it only had enhanced the red of his hair and the color of his black-rimmed, rigid eyes.

"Close the door on your way out." Was my snappy come-back to his veiled unspkoken threat. Right now, I really didn't feel like eyeballing him.

When he did, I grabbed the cursed book and flung it across the room. But, immediately regretted my action and retrieved it back from the opposite corner of the office. I should hide it. All of them. Up to this point, they were neatly organized, shelved in a cupboard right behind me, but I would store them down in the basement hidden from curious turquoise and black eyes.

How I would manage to do so was beyond me. For now, I just placed the latest publication of Kishimoto with his fellow companions and closed the cupboard tightly. Surely they wouldn't just go and dig through my things anyway. So with the cupboard locked, I relaxed a bit.

Think. I needed to think, remembered something else and opened the first drawer of my desk. I smiled at the tobacco pouch, reserved for rare occasions. My uncle had contracted this bad habit to a clearly unhealthy amount; I just smoked occasionally. I rolled a cigarette, placed it in the corner of my mouth and lit it swiftly with a match.

The first drag always hurt, but after a few coughs I inhaled the smoke deeply and let my poor functioning eyes gaze out of the window into the savaged backyard.

A plan. I needed a plan. And eventually I could find me some help. This was a special case, and I probably knew a guy who could help me out a bit.

That brought me back to flickering light. A flicker. My chandelier. Not to mention the strange sense of foreboding I had felt. Shortly after that, I had run into the siblings. Coincidence my arse.

I grabbed my notebook in search for a certain telephone number.

* * *

"He's weird…isn't he?" Kankuro leaned in to reluctantly whisper into my ear.

"Your standards or mine?" I whispered back at him, while we watched the old man waddle past us for the tenth time.

Kankuro shyly scratched his head, assuming he had just offended me.

I chuckled. "Don't worry. He is weird." After a meaningful pause, I added. "Even for our world."

The puppeteer didn't know whether he should act relieved, disturbed or horrified at my remark, so he performed a mix of all the previous listed reactions, which had me laughing at him.

Russell M. Jenkins is the name of the 62-year-old man, who currently examined the location, where Kankuro and Gaara had entered this world. He absolutely insisted on mentioning the capital of his middle name. I didn't even know what the full name was and he never had told me. But, he surely got mad if you would forget about it.

"Ah! Yes, yes, yes!" He old man exclaimed while pointing his small device into every possible direction of the clearing.

"What now?" The puppeteer inquired, curious about his behavior. I shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm not very familiar with his kind of profession. Research. Science. Whatever." Kankuro visibly went slack. "I just know, that he is supposed to be preeminent in his field." I tried to ease his apprehension.

We continued to watch him. Kankuro had his eyebrows raised in disbelief. I noted slightly disappointed, that Gaara apparently didn't want to share our conversation. He stood in the middle of clearing mildly interested in the old man with his arms folded over his chest. The customary scowl was ever present, I casually noted.

"What's his profession anyway?" The brown-haired ninja next to me suddenly asked. I bit my lip. He looked annoyed. I averted my gaze. Kankuro clicked his tongue, getting impatient.

"He's a...ghost hunter." I confessed in a small voice. Kankuro gaped at me. Oh, so he knew what a ghost hunter was, I mentally mentioned to myself, but my attention was instantly back on him.

"A what...!" His voice echoed through the woods. A flock of birds even took it as its cue to escape hastily.

I raised my hands in a protective manner. "Quiet you." I hissed at him viciously. I really didn't want my uncle's friend to feel offended. People who questioned his work didn't appeal him. Not at all. He then usually used to chuck the leftovers of his favored Graham Crackers at them, which he always had in the pockets of his old corduroy pants.

I once, and very stupidly, succeeded in catching those crumbs with my mouth one time when I was 12 or 13 years old. I would never forget the look on his face, it had been priceless. And my uncle had laughed his ass off. It rewarded us with some expletives a child should never hear and if it would, get scarred for life. My uncle had scolded him harshly with more expletives, while he covered my ears.

Thanks to him, I remained innocent. Or not.

"Boy, look alive!" And that was Russell's charming way of saying 'Get out of the way!' to a very grumpy looking redhead.

"He really knows what he's doing?" Gaara had joined us. Mostly because of the fact, that good ol' Russell had shooed him off, when he blatantly kept standing in his way.

"He's a ghost hunter." Kankuro muttered disdainfully at his brother behind my back. I gritted my teeth. "He's much more than that."

"Whatever he actually is, I hope he's done soon." The puppeteer continued to strain my nerves.

Gaara nodded at his statement. "We're not ghosts."

"No, but his devices can sense energy sources, like abnormalities in the electric-magnetic field. Usually it's used for ghost hunting, but some other paranormal activities also develop similar indications. There are rumors about space and time rifts in the world ever since humanity exists. You know, like people disappearing and suddenly plopping up somewhere else?" I ended and waited for them to let my last sentence sink in.

Gaara was seemingly satisfied with my elaboration. "And that's what he wants to find out at the moment?"

"Yeah, but since it's already been a day, it's hard to find evidence or a clarification what exactly the phenomenon was." I couldn't stop myself from looking at him, as I voiced out my concerns. His eyes were relaxed, his face actually displaying a more gentle expression. Right now, he resembled the boy he rather should be, than the Sand's Kazekage. Except for his lacking eyebrows, scar and black rimmed eyes of course, I mentally chuckled.

Russell had put his measuring devices, such as a magnetometer, Geiger counter, etc. down, humming to himself, so I decided to join him in the middle of the clearing

"So, find anything?" I asked the grizzled old man.

"Well." He looked down on his EMF meter, a simple, chunky, but valuable equipment used to measure electromagnetic vibrations. "It could be anything. But since we're in the middle of the forest, I'd say there definitely was something. But it's really too faint to really detect it. It also could be the effect of a cell phone at the moment."

He eyed me suspiciously. "I don't have one on me." I said firmly, he registered it with a mere grunt.

"So?" I pressed, looking around the clearing, as if I could sense anything.

"You mentioned the electricity acting weird." I nodded at his remark. He gave me an annoyed look and shook his head disappointed. "Some investigator you are."

"Gramps, please. Would you get to the damn point?" I matched my annoyance to his.

"Just call the fucking electricity company, stupid kid." I opened my mouth and closed it again. Seriously, some stupid investigator I was. Russell was always harsh with it words. You shouldn't take it seriously though, just his kind of attitude. I was used to it and in fact, he didn't mind when I retorted with the same attitude.

* * *

"They said they didn't notice anything. Apparently everything had worked just fine that evening." I had called the company and asked some dense questions, got laughed at and now I was miffed. We sat at my kitchen. The four of us. I and Russell had some coffee, while Kankuro and Gaara stuck to their mandatory glasses of plain water.

"Weird. But it's possible they haven't registered anything because it was so minor?" I reasoned, my hands hugging the mug in front of me.

"Bullshit." I frowned at Russel's blunt response, surreptitiously nodding at my other two guests, making it clear for him that he should mind his language. And of course, he didn't give a damn. "I don't give a damn." There, I had it.

Kankuro grinned at me. He seemed to like the quirky old man somehow, now that we had spent the entire day with him. I ignored Russell's swearing - I was merciful for the sake of the puppeteer's entertainment.

"So, kid. What's the deal with yer look anyway?" Russell suddenly croaked at Gaara. I slapped my hand over my eyes, covering my shame and avoided to look at the redhead, who, I just knew, was glaring death at the old man next to me. "Stop being so rude. Up to this point, he's seen more than you ever had in your entire life." I hissed at him from behind my hand.

Gaara stood up and left. Great. I let out an exasperated groan.

"She's right, old man." Kankuro said, equally offended, and followed his brother. Russell blinked at me. Well, the puppeteer had obviously stopped liking him. Well done, Russell.

"You still haven't learned to shut your mouth." I stated irritated, emptied my cup and rose from the chair to place it in the dishwasher.

"I'm amazed you let them stay here. They could be just a pair of wackos, you know?" I raised my brows at him. "Oh? The only one I see is you."

He suddenly roared with laughter, I was sure it shook the entire house. "Forgive this old fool. But I am amazed, you brat stood up for him. You know, I was getting worried you would end up as an old hermit like me after your uncle died." Through all of his harsh words, I was able to sense his kindness.

"I'm only 24. Gramps." I smirked with the last remark. "Besides, the fact that it's hard for me to find someone worth my time doesn't mean I've already given up on it."

"I see. Very well then." Russell replied slyly and stood up. He gently placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Then, make your time worthwhile."

I followed him to the front door to see him out. "I will see what I can do for you. I've already might have an idea, who could be of more assistance. I'll let you know about the results."

I hugged him firmly. "I knew I could count on you. Thanks. I'll make it up to you." He smiled cockily. "Like I would need that." He mocked me, I knew my eyes just had twitched. I rudely shut the door without bothering to say goodbye. He was so damn irritating.

"Stupid old man." I muttered to myself on my way to look for the Sand siblings and a phone to order some food.

* * *

"Hey, you know what?" I asked, chewing on my Yakitori when I laid lazily on the couch. Since we had been elaborating the food question, I had informed them that their kind of food was also available in this world. Kankuro's mood had lightened up instantly from that very moment.

"What?" Kankuro replied, happily stuffing himself with Akashiyaki sitting on the floor in front of the low living room table. Gaara once more was situated in the wing chair. I could only guess he had taking a liking to it.

"I just remembered your story and all that stuff about chakra and fighting and jutsus." I started my self-set task to explore the way it would work in this world. I knew when they had stopped my sorry-excuse-for-a-try of running away from them when we met, that they had used their abilities.

Gaara gazed at me with a questioning look. Kankuro, to occupied to say something, motioned at me to continue.

"How does it work?" Inwardly, I was too curious about how they would react to realize that they mostly had been anticipating it. "Your abilities I mean."

Kankuro gulped the last bit of his food down, to give me sly smile. "You really wanna know?"

My forehead wrinkled at this unnecessary question. "I wouldn't have asked, if I didn't." I was about to take another bite from of my Yakitori.

"Alright. But, you already have experienced it." His coy grins were getting on my nerves. Gaara, who was finished with his fried omelet, shook his head at him then turned to me. "You didn't fall back then. I made you fall. I used the sand of the surroundings to my advantage."

"You what?" I feigned my surprise and inwardly my excitement heightened. "How?" His pointy stare towards the gourd was my answer. It stood near his chair in the corner of the large room. I remembered our very short conversation about it when he had the trunk-issue. "The sand in there." I muttered, he nodded.

I soft creak was heard and took my anticipation to the next level as Gaara uncorked the gourd. The sand slithered out of it and danced lightly in the corner, before it slithered towards me, but stopped an arm's length from my face. Well, technically I knew about it. But see to it in real action yet amazed me. My eyes followed the movement it made. And I could see how it still worked fine, even with Shukaku gone.

"Can I touch it?" I asked tentatively. There was silence for moment. He apparently was pondering about it. I had asked subconsciously, but nonetheless eagerly. And why not? The menace that had semi-control of the sand was gone. He was the only one with power over it. It sure wouldn't be dangerous, unless Gaara alone wanted it to be.

"Extend your hand." I heard him say calmly. I was astonished though. I never had guessed he'd really let me. Maybe all this Kazekage business made him more obliging. No, that wasn't quite right. He was trying to get along. As in being friendly. My heartbeat suddenly sped up.

I complied, holding my breath, as I saw the sand moving closer. Like a snake, it slowly darted forward and I felt it around my spread fingers until they were covered with a thin layer. I gulped in astonishment. "It feels different." I managed to whisper, staring at the sand, when a streak branched out from the layer, wound itself around my wrist and forearm. It felt smooth, not rough or grainy at all.

"It's special." He clarified. "Infused with my chakra. It's far from being just normal sand."

I finally ripped my gaze away from my arm and smiled at him, feeling the slight tingle in my stomach. "It comes in handy I guess."

At that Kankuro cleared his throat rather exaggerated. "Are you two done yet?" The sand slowly retreated and I put my hand down, still feeling the light tickles it had caused on my skin. I lazily grabbed another skewered grilled chicken, hearing the sound of the gourd getting corked.

"Gaara's sand techniques are rare, but so are my abilities. And they are far more entertaining." He sneered at me, the cocky shinobi he was. However, I thought he only acted that way, because he wanted to provoke or polarize. I think it was his idea of entertainment as well.

"Showoff." I spat teasingly, deliberately ignoring to look at him and instead focusing on eating my food. I already sensed in my mouth, but when I bit down it was gone. "What...?"

I caught view of the silvery thin strings and followed the trails up to Kankuro's right hand. With an amused grin, he wiggled the skewer at me which was supposed to be in my stomach at this point. "Neat." I cocked my head. He glared.

"Wait a second." He shot up and sped off. With a questioning look I turned to his brother. Gaara sighed. "You shouldn't provoke him." He said with a meaningful nod towards his brother as said one reentered the room with his scrolls. I had completely forgotten he even had those with him.

Oh? Oh. Oh!

I blinked at him incredulously. I wasn't supposed to know about the puppets I reminded myself. But, I apparently would learn about them the hard way. Something in my stomach tightened. He wouldn't summon them all, would he? The living room was big, sure, but not big enough for an army of puppets.

I felt a familiar tug on my head, which caused me to slump forward. I had zoned out. I seriously shouldn't do that so often. Seeing his hand move, I knew he had pulled me. "Stop that." I waved my hand around, like I was waving off off flies. This time the strings were invisible. "Alright, alright. It is useful then, I give you that."

"You haven't seen anything yet. Enjoy the show!" Gaara's eyes and mine widened at him simultaneously. He enrolled a scroll and suddenly I was staring at Karasu right in front of me. I shrieked and ducked away with the attempt to hide behind the couch. He sure knew how to scare someone out of his or her wits. Even me. Who actually was supposed to be expecting what was coming.

Gaara didn't even flinch I incidentally noted, while dangling half off the couch. I awkwardly tried to position myself back to my original state. My head throbbed. "Are you crazy? Don't…" I gaped and pointed at the cackling puppet. "Don't ever do that again!"

Kankuro laughed his ass off, enjoying my agitated outburst. "Not until you admit that my puppet technique is awesome. And awesome is keyword." Karasu inched a bit closer, just for lending some more substance to his words. I shook my head to refuse his not exactly polite request.

"Don't make me call them all." He threatened jokingly. "More?" I asked suspiciously. Then something happened. With a poof Karasu disappeared, leaving a huffing Kankuro in its wake.

"What now?" I stood up in surprise and staggered towards the puppeteer. He seemed somewhat strained. "Well…." He breathed out heavily. "That seems to be the problem of being here."

I turned my head to see Gaara's concerned expression, silently asking him for an explanation. "It's taking up too much chakra than it normally would. We really can't maintain the standards of our performed jutsus. It's hard to keep the focus and control over it as well. It wears us out, faster than in our world."

"You can't do anything about it?" I wanted to know, steadying the sand shinobi at my side as I lead him back to the couch to sit down.

"I don't know." Gaara lowered his head.

"We could try to train our abilities." Kankuro ventured slowly, as I removed my arm from him. "How?" I perked up.

"That's not the problem. It would be where to train." The puppeteer sighed as he leaned back and scratched his neck, while he looked around the room as to measure how big it actually was. I shook my head at him, understanding his train of thought perfectly. "Not in here." I warned.

"I don't think we can just go outside, that'll cause you trouble." Gaara muttered darkly. I snickered at him. "That'd get you into a research institution with needles being stuck into every possible and impossible part of your body. They'd drain your blood, cut you open, just to find out how you function only to discover, they can't put you back together properly."

Kankuro paled at my somewhat detailed description of how it would be to end up as guinea pigs. "Let's not go outside. Ever."

I poked his side. "I'm just joking. Though, you never how mad a mad scientist can actually get. Oh! And by the way, we'll go shopping tomorrow."

Kankuro tensed. "What didn't you just get in 'Let's not go out'?" He snarled slightly disturbed. Gaara regarded me with mild confusion.

I rubbed my forehead. "You can't just go and walk around in my clothes. You need to get your own."

Like sleeping suits.

Toothbrushes.

The list could get on and on like that.

Underwear...

At this I gagged, drawing unwanted attention towards me. I shouldn't pursue my thoughts any further. What the hell did they wear under my clothes all this time?

I eyed the gourd suspiciously. I wonder if it also was functioning as some sort of bag. I laughed, imagining how Gaara randomly pulled stuff out of it, like a magician off his hat, saying something like 'Tada!'. I suddenly erupted into laughter. This would be too funny.

_Me: I want ice cream._

_Gaara: There you go! –pulls it out of his gourd-_

_Me: -chokes on sandy ice cream- It's sand._

_Gaara: Eat or die._

_Me: -swallowing the cone in whole- Never mind._

_Gaara: Good._

"Hey!" Kankuro shouted at me and I shot up. Wow, I managed to completely zone out. Bad.

"What's gotten into you?"

"Sorry. I just remembered something funny." I lied and grinned at him stupidly. I really needed to stop daydreaming like this.

"Does it happen often?" Was that a tint of amusement in the redhead's voice? If so, it was…pleasant, though his deadpan surely gave nothing away. But right now, it was so not appropriate. It flustered me. With that kind of attitude, he sure would one day be a good user of dry humor.

The epitome of dry humor.

And that again humored me. My stupid grin widened. And I had managed to zone out again.

"Stop it. You're weirding me out!" Kankuro wailed and scooted away from me.

Later that night, I was getting ready for bed, swiftly brushing my teeth after I, politely as I was, had let the Kazekage use the bathroom first. It's not like he had asked, he just did.

I stepped into the already dark and silent hallway, assuming they had gone to bed. I snuck up to my door, as a dark shape formed before my eyes. I couldn't really tell which one of the guys it was, that casually leaned against the wall next to my door.

In this kind of dim light it could be either and the fact, he wasn't announcing his identity, disgruntled me. Though, I already had a feeling. The shadow moved, stepping in my way.

"We need to talk." It was nothing but a silent murmur, but resolute. There would be arguing. "Now?" Well, at least I tried it and he naturally ignored it. He pushed himself off the wall and I knew I was to follow him. My jaw clenched as he opened the door to his temporary accommodation and went inside, not even bothering to check if I even would follow him, like he already knew I would anyway.

"Shouldn't your brother be here as well?" I asked just to by me some time. Gaara waited patiently for to get inside, before answered. "It's just between you and me."

I shut the door behind me as I stepped inside, when my eyes fell on the bed as soon as Gaara switched the lights on. It looked untouched, the pillow was exactly like I had adjusted it. There was not a single crease as evidence that he had used it. Nowhere. Had he still his sleeping problems or had he camped out in Kankuro's bedroom? I couldn't tell since whenever I got in the morning up, they already had been awake as well.

My attention snapped back at him. "Sit." One single word. Yet, it was all he needed, to make his point clear. This would take a while.

"What do y-" I prompted, but Gaara intervened bluntly. "You're hiding something." And it caught me off guard. He scrutinized me. His eyes searched mine for some reaction and I'm sure he detected it as he yet again repeated his earlier demand. "Sit."

I refused. I wouldn't let myself be bossed around in my house, my room. Gaara took a step towards me and his features had darkened significantly. I took a step back. It was just a staring contest for moments, until he spoke again. "I know, that there is something about you. You're definitely hiding something and there's no point in denying it. I can see it clearly. Tell me." He was fuming, yet it was subtle but intense at the time. He stood perfectly still before me, only inches away.

"I-I…" Here I was, stuttering. The close proximity had apparently frozen my brain. He was so handsome. He was so near. I could see the scar on his forehead perfectly. I could distinguish all the single hairs of his red strands that partially covered it. His eyes flickered with impatience. I noticed, slightly agitated, that I had unfortunately zoned out for a short amount of time.

I needed to get a hold of myself. Now.

His vibrant voice snapped my attention back on the situation. "Tell me." He really did snarl this time.

Short temper, I reminded myself. Think, I forced myself. Think, dammit. Now! There had to be a way out of this. I manipulated people, I lied occasionally, and it was part of the job. So, why couldn't I do it now?

He took another step towards me and could feel the wall in my back as I proceeded to maintain the gap of an arm-length between us. "I can't tell you." His eyes hardened, and I continued fixing my gaze on the kanji on his forehead, rather than his eyes. That should keep myself clear off spacing out again.

At this point it occurred to me that, since I could easily study his scar, we were actually almost the same height. He maybe was an inch or so taller. I bit the inside of my cheek. Hard. And the pain helped to remember that I needed to stay focused already.

"I can't, but it's not important for you to know. And it won't affect our deal. I just have some things that I must keep to myself. For now." I made it without a stutter, but my voice had lost its edge completely. With any other person, I was sure I would have done better. But not with him. Not this close.

"It's a matter of trust." Gaara assumed slightly annoyed. I shook my head. "Then what is it?" He pressed, but luckily I was spared from him taking another step into my personal space. Not that it lessened the tension one bit. I cringed visibly, he stood perfectly still, and the only thing that moved were his eyes.

"But, you can't tell me, because we don't know each other. You seem very uncomfortable about it. So, I can assume, that it has something to do with me or my brother for that matter."

Internally I collapsed. Of course, it had to do with him. Did he even realize what affects he had on me just now? I blinked at him, making my puzzlement visible. "I'm sure, you weren't telling me everything about you either." I shot back. I had no options left, than to counter-attack. For the shortest of moments, I suddenly saw understanding evident in his expression.

Gaara suddenly he withdrew. I let myself rest against the wall. I had hit a nerve. I knew about his past, which he hadn't bothered to elaborate completely, when they had told me about the shinobi world and their lives. I felt dirty, using my secret knowledge, but this was a crucial point. It was too early to confront them. Hell, they still needed to adjust to that fact, that they had traveled to another world.

As much I hated it, it was necessary.

Gaara sat down on the bed, avoiding his gaze for once. "I guess that makes us even then." He muttered with a sigh. Guilt welled up inside of me.

"It's just natural." I replied matter-of-factly, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yet." I added purposefully.

He looked up at me, surprised. "What do you mean?" Still slow on the social side I see.

I went over to stand in the middle of the room, but looked at the direction of the window. "It's normal, that we can't just trade secrets that easily. We're still strangers to one another. Maybe it is a matter of trust all right. But I already trust you well enough to not rob me and murder me in my sleep." I tried a faint attempt of humor on him, but it went unnoticed for he stared down at his hands. I could only fathom, what he was thinking right now.

"But to trust someone needs time, I think. You just don't go and 'bam' it's there. It builds up constantly with the evolving of a relationship. You can't force it." Yeah. My point actually was, I wanted to know more about him. Not just his past and present. I wanted to know what he was thinking the very moment he thought it. It was hard to figure him out.

And maybe, he still had a hard time figuring himself out as well.

There wasn't much stated in the manga about his personal feelings, except for his drive why he'd wanted to become Kazekage. But I felt it wasn't enough for me. Not anymore. He intrigued me to no end. Saying I wasn't interested was a downright lie. I admitted that the moment, he had let me touch his sand. And then it suddenly made sense. He was trying.

He was already trying. "Naruto." He whispered into the silence of the room. The first friend he had. And the first he had lost. "He trusted me and I don't even know, how it happened. He trusted me with his life." He spoke quietly to himself, completely lost in his memory.

"I'm so sorry."

"Why?" Again, there was this surprised disbelief. Was it still hard for him to acknowledge, that someone beside his siblings cared? I had seen the exact same expression before, when he had returned to Suna after he was rescued from the Akatsuki and the whole village had been out to welcome him back home. Shock. Confusion. Surprise.

I ignored his question, waving my hand dismissively. "We already had that discussion."

"How long does it take?" What? I raised my eyebrow, wondering. "To build up trust." He elaborated.

I chuckled slightly. "Just as along as takes. It's not something you can actually measure. Some people trust others easier, some people never trust others. You just have to go and find out." I was sorry for sounding like some kind of teacher, but wasn't it true anyway?

"I see." He nodded at me, his face finally relaxed. "I will try." He rose from the bed and I knew I looked confused when he approached me. I fought the nervous twitch in my eye and the urge to retreat. Again a small gap remained between us, but this time he bridged it with extending his right hand.

"We already did that too." I reminded him quietly, but Gaara slowly shook his head. "This is for something else." I swallowed hard, hesitating for a second. He stoically waited for me, until I finally grabbed it. "I want to attest the desire of forming a bond."

I almost gagged. This was so unnecessarily awkward. But, on a side note, I felt fuzzy. And tingly. However, I was proud of myself as I managed to match his straight face. He really was different from anything I knew. "I have no objections." I complied with a shaky voice, failing to ignore the insane speed of my heartbeat.

Something happened to his lips. It was faint, but it was there. But as soon as I blinked it was gone. He nodded a firm nod and let go, then turned away from me.

"Alright. Then I let you get some rest. Goodnight." I was on the door, when I heard a click. Like something got unlocked. Then there was a bit of shuffling. I peered over my shoulder and froze. "Uhm, what are doing?" He had opened the window and I watched him rather astonished as he tied his gourd to his back.

He was half out of the window with on foot on the flat roof of the porch of the house. "What does it look like?" He counter-questioned blankly as if it wasn't obvious.

"No, I mean, what do you think you're doing? You can't possibly just go and sit on the roof. What if somebody sees you? That's unusual for people in this world." I groaned rather loudly, emphasizing my irritation, before I continued. "It'll raise suspicion or at least cause the neighborhood to gossip around. And I seriously don't feel like fighting off rumors of strange people no one had ever seen around, sitting on a roof in the middle of the night and to top it all with this thing on your back." I gestured towards the gourd.

"You clearly are underestimating my abilities." He stated flatly.

Okay, where did the quiet I-wanna-bond-with-you-Gaara of a second ago go? Boy, he sure did a 360° spin. He was suddenly talking - scratch that - discussing. Plus, he sounded like he was slightly angry.

"Well, last time I checked this was my house. Get back in." I hissed through clenched teeth.

He rudely ignored me and shoved his other leg out, then disappeared completely into the dark of the night. I sighed. Well, it was dark, so maybe nobody would see him. And I learned a valuable lesson. Gaara didn't take orders. Not from me at least.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks so much for the reviews, guys. That sure made me happy and even more eager to post another chapter. And on another note, I have to apologize for eventual misspelling, typos, writing errors - whatever. I try to prof-read all the time, but I bet some still just slipped past me, can't be helped, I guess...

Anyway, how'd you like it so far? Con-crit is always appreciated.


	4. Insight

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does though...

* * *

**Chapter Four – Insight**

**

* * *

**

My hands clutched tightly to the shopping cart. I was nervous. Beyond nervous. I peered over to Gaara, who was strutting alongside me - boy, it came so damn natural to him - he did not just walk like some other people. However, it only intensified the bad feeling. He still was sticking out like a sore thumb. Even with the normal clothes he wore, he still was one hell of an eye-catcher.

In a good way? That, we were about to find out.

A small whistle escaped Kankuro, who was on my left side as we entered the huge shopping market. I chose this one, because I was sure to get everything that we needed. I didn't feel like going downtown to the shopping district. It would take too much time with too many different stores. We needed to get over with this as quickly as possible. It wasn't just two handsome boys, which already caught attention once we entered the market, but the distinctive look of Gaara.

Kankuro looked just fine. Though he had persisted to wear black. So, I had to offer him one of my most favorite shirts. I really didn't have that much black in my closet. On me it had looked like a shirt a size too big.

At him it looked, well…..

A woman, maybe only a few years older than me, eyed him with an utterly pleased smile and he didn't fail to notice, for he flashed her a wide mischievous grin.

I rolled my eyes. Who would have thought, he was the rather flirty type?

Wait. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Right. My shirt. On Kankuro. Hence, the stupid smile of the woman. It turned out to be body fit on him, his broad shoulders came out nicely, as well as his pecs and biceps and…

Well, to make it short. Everything.

He wore his own pants. I granted him that, because none of mine except for my ugly sweats would fit him properly. As for shoes, luckily, it was still late summer and rather warm. So all I had to do was get him some flip flops, which he appreciated much, because his toes were still able to breathe freely. Call it habitual.

As for Gaara…He just had stuck to the white colored shirt still enhancing his unusual hair, but I was glad I didn't had to sacrifice another of my favorite clothing pieces. Also, my short baggy pants fit him nicely, as well as my red classic chucks.

He looked much like some skater boy with an odd sense for looks and I had been relieved at the thought. With his red hair and all he still looked fairly offbeat, earning raised brows from the older customers around the market, but I convinced myself that it would work out just fine.

But, unlike his older brother, he was oblivious to the girls, which passed us a minute later. They were goggling him with much whispering and giggling. I rolled my eyes, before I proceeded to take on the task ahead. I didn't want to space out too much again.

"Ashe." Kankuro nudged me gently, making me falter. My head snapped up at him, I was befuddled. "I just thought I should let you know you were about to ran into those." He pointed at some shelves my cart threatened to hit, I I yanked it back just in time. Kankuro was highly amused, grinning from ear to ear. "You sure tend to zone out a lot."

Embarrassed, I shoved my cart into the right direction. I had to agree, though. This happened a lot lately. It was annoying. When I was about to announce, where we were supposed to be headed, I registered in utter shock that Gaara wasn't present next to me any longer. I twirled around, frantically scanning the area with wide eyes.

Kankuro nudged me once more. "Over there."

I sighed in relief, then just walked up on him with an angry face. "Don't run off like that. We're supposed to stick together." Calm eyes regarded me for a second than he shrugged. "I did not run off. I walked over here to pass the time until you where finished with daydreaming." He explained nonchalantly, while he sighted the goods in front of us.

I opened my mouth and closed it a moment later. I had nothing to add. So, instead I decided to change the topic, realizing what exactly I was looking at. I cocked my head curiously. Books. Lots of books. He was interested in reading? I had assumed, since he was reading over documents all day, he wouldn't be still much interested in reading in his spare time.

"Where's Kankuro?" As Gaara dropped the question, I was afraid that my head would explode.

Two. Two people. How difficult could it possibly be to keep them together? Again, I found myself slightly panicking, but soon spotted him over at the racks with all the magazines and newspapers. I groaned. "Would you mind doing me a favor?" I asked Gaara incidentally, not letting my eyes off the puppeteer.

"Hn."

A yes, I supposed. "Stay here. As in. Don't. Move." I emphasized every word. But, it was a wasted effort.

"Hn."

I wasn't really sure, if he even heard me at all. "Gaara." I warned. He lifted his head and turned it towards me. "What?" He asked warily.

"Please, stay where I can see you." I felt like talking to child. Despite, he was a good-looking redhead with some attitude and currently disinterested in my attempts to keep us together.

"Hn." I had a sudden strong urge to grab the thickest tome and beat him senseless. But, attacking the Kazekage wouldn't be a good idea - even without his gourd. And with his overly protective brother around. Which brought me back to my task, so I immediately stormed off.

"Kankuro." I hissed. He met my gaze with an innocent look. "Huh?" As much as I hated to be like this, I deemed it necessary. "Don't just wander off." With Kankuro I already had become more amicable, so I punched his arm. The magazine he had been reading fell to the floor as he, with a twitching eye, swirled around. "What the hell was that for?"

I bent down to pick up, what he had dropped and shoved it back into his hands. "The nerve of you guys." I muttered in defeat. "As I recall correctly, I clearly had made it a point to stick with me. Please." I begged him with my head down, raising my praying hands like I was asking the higher Gods for heavenly support. I should really consider this idea for a moment. Later.

"We are within sight. And honestly, what could possibly happen to us?" He sneered at me. "Just calm down."

I cringed at the remark regarding the 'sight'. They had no idea, that the moment they were more than 20 feet away from me, all I could make out was a nothing but a multicolored blur. Curse my bad eyesight. Bless Gaara for having red hair, which made him easier to spot than his older brother.

"Well, it's just…" I muttered, but trailed off. Kankuro fully turned towards me. "Are you really that scared, we might get lost?" His cheeky grin diminished slightly. I shrugged at him. "Don't know. Maybe." He patted my shoulder. "We're not going anywhere." This time the shinobi-in-disguise was serious. I let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine."

I relaxed a bit, seeing the hint of ruffled red hair standing where I had left him. At least he had listened. Or he was to absorbed in all the books. I regarded the magazine Kankuro had returned his attention to. Tools, huh? Figured, as he loved his puppets and modifying them. Not only the number increased, but he also finally had taken up the job to build his own.

"Hey, uhm…you might as well get that." I motioned at the publication he was studying. A smile grazed his lips.

"You dropped it already to the floor and made it dirty. And if you find anything else you're interested in, make sure to drop it in our cart."

"Uh, really? I mean, you don't have to." He rubbed his neck, seemingly appreciative, but uncomfortable. "Come on. It's alright. Just pick some more, so you don't run out of input any time soon." I winked at him and decided to check up on Gaara and to leave Kankuro some time to look up all the different magazines.

"Ashe?" He asked, before I could leave for his younger sibling.

"Yah?" I turned around, smiling at him.

"You know, you're actually pretty cool." He said with a smirk and one closed eye. I remembered him doing that quite often in the manga. In live action it looked even cuter, despite that he was what…twenty? I shook my head at him.

"Are you implying you didn't think so from the beginning?" His eyes snapped open. "I..uh…" He grinned apologetically.

I clutched my heart just quite dramatically, acting like I was about to faint. "Oh, you wound me." Kankuro laughed at me and I joined in.

"Later." I waved and sauntered over to Gaara. The stern redhead still browsed through the books when I appeared behind him. He acknowledged my presence with a short side-glance, but other than that he did nothing. I lazily let my eyes travel over the stacks, musing if I could find something interesting myself.

Neither of us said a word. Gaara slowly took another step and continued his search. His fingers slowly touched the spine of a random book to turn it, so he could read the summary on the back. He did that several times, and it looked like he had already forgotten I was even there.

I for my part looked like I was flipping through a book myself, but secretly observed the Kazekage, who had apparently decided he didn't like the book he had touched and proceeded to yet another one. I approached him carefully, still seemingly occupied with the book in my hands, to spy on the books he had touched and put back.

You know, sometimes the little investigator inside of me takes over. I chuckled mentally, when Gaara didin't noticed what I was really doing.

"So, are you two done already?"

He startled me, but on the outside I stayed perfectly calm. If I hadn't known his voice, I wouldn't even have been able to tell that it was him who had spoken. All his intention was on the stacks in front of him.

"Yeah." My voice betrayed me, sounding shaky. "Good." He replied absent-mindly.

I gathered my courage. "You know, you can have one, if you like." I lowered the book I was holding and put it back, while waiting for his reaction.

"I'm not sure." He shrugged lightly. What did he mean, not sure? Did he mean not sure, to accept my offer or if he wanted one? Gaara had the amazing ability to form his answers that they would fit any question.

"When I'll start working on your case, I hope you don't get bored. So, maybe you want to read while I'm not there to entertain you." I said, partially joking.

He faced me with a serious look, eyes directly locked with mine. Okay, that again made me nervous - and tingly. He stepped towards me, maybe pondering over my words. "It's not really that interesting. Besides, I'm not familiar with all the subjects these books are covering."

Ah, I got it. They were all modern books, which he didn't understand. Yeah, like Dan Brown could ever make it to lure Gaara into reading him.

I nodded at him. Maybe he should start with some easier reading. My eyes wandered over to the children's books. I cringed, hoping he wouldn't take it as offense as I motioned him to follow me.

I was stunned when he really did. "Maybe you should take a look around here." His eyes narrowed at me, after reading the huge sign dangling from the ceiling. With huge letters it clearly read "Children" and next to it another sign which read "Teen". That section featured a wide range of young adult books I realized, when dodging his glare with a wry smile.

"It's alright. I read those too." I motioned at the children's books. And it was true. Some of these were really good, aside from the educational aspects. The only difference was they didn't use all those heavy and difficult writing styles that made your brain hurt after a while. I thought it was a good choice.

Gaara had stood around, reluctant to approach the bookshelves, so I acted as example and took out a fairytale book with an overly embarrassing bright cover to wave it at him. "Just take a peek, it won't hurt."

He still glared, but relaxed a bit at the same time. Maybe I should leave him alone for a few minutes, I ventured. Gaara, still with a sour look on his face, had relented and gazed along the books with his eyes only, no touching. I chuckled at him, but he ignored me completely. He was obviously grumpy.

I turned on my heels to go, but his voice stopped me. "Ashe." My heart jumped at the use of my name, it was the very first time he had said it.

"Mmh?" I walked up to him. "Is this okay?" My shoulders slumped down, accompanied with a puff. Is what okay? It was straining me to puzzle about his seemingly random questions.

"Don't you have books at home? I could read those. You don't need to buy a new one."

I found myself laughing lightly. "It's alright. I told Kankuro he could get some magazines, so it's only fair, that you get a book - only if you want one of course." He nodded.

Well, that went well, I thought with a snicker. He scowled. Right, touchy. "Okay. It's fine, really." I said, convincing him in the end.

I was curious about what choice he had made. But he seemed rather clueless about any of the subjects these books held. An uncertain Gaara, who had no idea of what to do, was equal to an annoyed Gaara with a dark scowl on his features. He crossed his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes, subtly nodding towards a smaller book. He didn't get it, instead he kept glaring at the shelves.

I sighed, took a step towards to let my fingers glide over the cover of a specific book. I smiled inwardly, when his eyes followed my movements. Did he get the hint I subtly gave him to make his choice easier?

Gaara then nodded to himself, I retreated a few step, so he could take a look. But he picked it up right away without any hesitation.

"Then I want this one." He shoved the book into my hands. I chuckled lightly. The cover was…decent, compared to all the other ones. Around the title, there was a neat ornament drawn with green leaves and red apples.

Apples. Of course, I knew the book.

"I have to compliment you on your choice." Gaara's eyes slightly widened in surprise, but swiftly went back to their usual state. I knew, that he was aware of how I had supported him on his choice, yet I congratulated him. According to his look, he thought I just mocked him.

"It's a good one." I declared with a serious voice and turned away. He slowly followed me, but didn't say anything further.

"Let's go, I'll get Kankuro." I said, dropping the book into cart, which was close by.

I still was nervous when we sauntered down the aisles. Well, Kankuro and me sauntered, Gaara did his usual strut thing. And strangely enough, it fitted him perfectly. The gawks and scowls he got all the time from other customers unnerved me, hence my nervous fidgety behavior.

Our shopping cart was packed with food already. The discussion I had with Kankuro about all the food had left me also in a peeved mood.

Gaara had been polite enough to ignore our bickering all the way through.

I admitted, I was skeptical when it came to foreign food. I wasn't really picky, but the puppeteer had a strange taste after all. So, the argument lasted on until we were nearly done with the food issue.

However, I would have gladly gone back and started it all over again when we came to the clothes issue.

Shopping for clothes was in general pretty easy. As long as it was about shirts and pants, hell even socks.

But…

"Kankuro, just get it over with." I snarled, feeling very, very uncomfortable. The puppeteer shot me a taunting look and proceeded to rummage around. Wherever he had been he had left a mess and this time was no different.

"That's not something to take lightly. It's important for a man and his feelgood factor."

My face contorted into a disgusted grimace. This was wrong. It didn't concern me, since I wasn't a man. So, why did I have to witness this? And even have the discussion that came with it? No, more like a monologue. His younger brother had regarded the offered products with his blank expression and it already had joined the other stuff in the cart.

Kankuro on the other hand had rejected whatever I had given to him.

Feelgood factor. I cringed. To top it all, of course he wanted black underwear. "White is for sissies." He explained. And Gaara, I added mentally, remembering the redhead had accepted the white underclothing earlier.

"Kankuro." The redhead said in a low warning voice.

I gave Gaara a grateful smile. He was as annoyed as I was.

"There are so many designs, it's hard to choose." The brown-haired shinobi whined, holding two packages out. "Which one?" He asked….me?

Good gracious.

"How would I know? It's your feelgood factor, not mine!" I snapped incredulously. Kankuro grinned. "You're a girl! I'm sure it's for your benefits as well."

I paled. And then I felt, that my face went red. My cheeks were burning. "In my opinion, it's useless, since no one will ever see what you're wearing underneath in this world anyway." I retorted sharply. That was for embarrassing me.

"We'll see."

I swear, the grin he displayed was the dirtiest grin I had ever seen. I silently hoped it wasn't directed at me.

"Hell no..." I groaned, turning away. "Just take it already. Take as many as you want, whichever you want and let us get out of here." I rubbed my forehead, somehow feeling pretty tired all of a sudden. I heard rustling and was glad Kankuro had apparently made his choice.

With a long sigh of relief I trudged with both in tow towards the checkouts. I peeked into the cart. Definitely 300 dollars, I ventured, mildly twitching. It was necessary. They needed clothes. We needed food. With the next job, I would get it back, I was sure.

Well, I paid and haven't been too far off. Over 300 bucks. Check.

Kankuro had asked me it was expensive and the damn cashier had just whistled, marveling at the full cart. I shot him a warning glare and he had stilled. Good for him.

When we arrived the car we had a hard time of getting everything and ourselves together in the car.

* * *

I was beat. After the shopping and then stuffing everything into it's appropriate place after coming home I was tired. I wasn't accustomed to that, because I had lived alone for a long time by now.

But, on the other hand, it was good having someone around for a change. Hearing the noises of someone making breakfast in the morning on your way into kitchen or to hear the water running when you passed the bathroom.

It felt nice.

It reminded of the time when my uncle was still alive. The house didn't seem so empty anymore. But up to this point, I never even realized it had been empty all the time since he had passed away.

Gaara and Kankuro were currently in the living room I guessed, while I sat in my office. Fading daylight filled the corners with shadows as I went over some case files, which I had sadly neglected since the boys had shown up.

I needed to catch up a bit. The mail had piled up as well. I had made some calls to future clients and written the latest bill for a I sighed heavily and rubbed my sore eyes. They were burning from to much reading already. I switched on the desk lamp to have better light. Sun had set, but I still couldn't just rest.

I slowly realized, there was a meeting set in five days. And even if I wanted to, I couldn't cancel it. I needed my income - especially with two additional mouths to feed.

With a cigarette dangling from my mouth I shoved the folder away from me to turn on the computer on my desk. There still hadn't been word from Russel so I just wanted to browse the net a bit for myself in order to gain knowledge of paranormal activities - or some gossip of unidentified phenomenons around the city.

After a few minutes, I was able to find some input. There was one blog that seemed to just sprouted some - apparently random nonsense - but it hit a nerve deep within me. Someone disappeared the very night, when I encountered that the electricity had malfunctioned. She was nowhere to be found since then. I gulped.

The author of the blog ventured it a fact of aliens abducting people. Yeah, right.

But, who knows? At this moment, I was able to believe almost anything - remembering the sand nins in my house.

I copied her name into the search window and suddenly various articles of the local newspapers were on the screen.

A seventeen year old girl just vanished without a trace. Could be some random crime, but my instincts told me something else. I scribbled down her name hastily. Couldn't hurt to sniff around a bit.

But before I could finish my trail of thoughts the phone suddenly rang. I glanced at the clock. Past eleven already.

"Ashe?"

"Who else?" I asked amused, immediately recognizing the voice.

"Hey, honey. Haven't heard from you in a while. Just wanted to check, if everything's alright." The concerned voice of my friend and sporadic co-worker Jocelyn Carron announced. She was three years older than me, making her 27. She lived pretty far off on the other side of the city, where the life was bustling. And I guess she liked it that way.

"Yeah. I'm alright. Sorry, I had some….things to take care of." And still had to, I added mentally.

"Something I need to worry about?" She had noticed the nervous stagger in my voice, and now she seemed rather curious than concerned.

"No, not really." At least nothing for her to be worried about.

For now, Russel was the only one who knew about Gaara and Kankuro, And I wanted to keep it that way. Plus, an encounter with Jocelyn could really get complicated. She was loud, sometimes foul-mouthed and pretty suggestive when she was in a playful mood - and breathtakingly beautiful. I never witnessed a man, who wasn't completely enraptured by her, when they met her for the first time.

I immediately thought of Kankuro. About Gaara, I was sure, I didn't need to worry. But well, boys and their hormones. I didn't want to overtax them to this amount. At this, I giggled slightly.

"What's so funny?" Jocelyn seemed puzzled. "Oh, nothing, just something weird I saw on the web right now.

"Still working in your office, I guess then."

"Right. You know me. And speaking of that, I might need your assistance once more for another case. Luckily you just called, so I can ask you right away. Are you up to it?"

"Of course, I've been waiting for another job. I always helps me to test my abilities. And besides, it's so much fun." With that she laughed her cute and very vibrant laughter at which the males usually tended to melt away.

Yeah, she always liked the cases I let her work on with me, because Jocelyn Carron was an actress. She was working in a permanent employment, which she got recently at the city's biggest theater. And she was really talented and loved her job to no end.

I visited her plays ever so often, if I had the time. I considered her as friend all the way. She tried to look after me as often as possible and I appreciated her friendship and concern to the utmost. She's not a decent one in personality and appearance, but unique and very easy to get along with. She's smart, no doubt, caring and compassionate but not in the suffocating manner.

"Alright. As soon as you have time, we should meet so we can quickly go over the procedure and details."

Whenever I hired her, it's a special case. You remember, I told you about the betrayed wives, that had no evidence to get their divorce filed to their advantages. That's were Jocelyn comes into play. We get the evidence by setting the unfaithful husband up.

The good thing about Jocelyn's job is, she can get whatever disguise she needs, clothes and wigs and whatever else we need to match her appearance to the husbands preferences in women.

"I can swing by your house any time, if you like. And I could bring take-out from the Italian, you like so much." Jocelyn cooed from the other end of the line.

"That sounds…" Fantastic, I wanted to say. But, luckily I managed to refrain myself from shouting out my pleasure. "….good, but I'd rather meet up at the coffee shop close to my house." Damn, I really like the Italian food from that restaurant…..

"Why? It's okay for me to take the detour to that restaurant. I know, you want that food. I come to your house."

God, she could get persistent with that good natured attitude of hers. "No, really, You don't have to. The coffee shop is just fine. You don't need to come visit me here."

Excuse, excuse. Where are you when I need you. That's the shame with friends. I could not lie to them as easily as to my targets.

"What's wrong? You seem awfully uncomfortable with me visiting you at home. What did you do? Did something happen?"

Gaara and Kankuro happened. I closed my eyes, thinking hard, but my pause just gave me away.

"Ashe, don't tell me…"

Huh? With what did she came up right now? Her voice sounded very suspicious. "Tell what…?"

"You are not alone at home…are you?" Boy, did she just sound proud? I gasped, hopefully unnoticed by her.

"Aww, who is he?"

"What are you talking about?" My panic surprisingly brought my brain back into functioning.

"You don't want me to meet him? Afraid I might bite?" She let out an amused chuckle. My temples started to throb. "No, nothing like that. I don't know where you got that idea from, I'm not like that. It's just, I want to get outside once in while, you know."

I don't let random males into my house, I wanted to add, but that would make me a complete hypocrite. And, it would sound like a reproach towards her, for I knew, she occasionally let random males into her appartment. Though these usually were escorted out of the door in the morning.

She was notorious for having more than one notch scratched into her bed post. But, that was none of my business. Each to their own, I guess. I was notorious of being a loner.

"And here I thought, you finally decided to have some male company. Pity." I could hear she was grinning. If only she knew…Not only one male, but two. Now, I had to restrain myself from telling her, because she would be so baffled by these news.

But, no. Not today. Hell, not ever. It would make things more complicated. I didn't want to deal with it.

"So, how about on Monday, three o'clock at the coffee shop? I'll make sure to have the necessary info ready." I yawned purposefully. I needed to end this little conversation. "I'm really tired. Let's talk tomorrow."

"Uhm, sure. Yeah, see you then. And, I still don't buy it. I know, there's something up with you." She chuckled again. "But, let's save it, so you can come up with a more satisfying excuse." And with that she hung up. Of course, I couldn't fool an actress. She knew, when I was trying to act.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks a lot for the reviews, guys.


End file.
